Dutch Isn't Red Dead Redemption's Worst Big Bad, There's Another

Every good story needs a good old-fashioned villain and in recent years, fans have discovered that Dutch may not be the main antagonist of Red Dead Redemption 2 after all.

Throughout the entire Red Dead franchise, players have come face-to-face with some pretty evil characters.

Despite men such as Ross and Micah taking part in some horrific acts and serving as the main villains of Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 respectively, many players have been left feeling conflicted over none other than Dutch van der Linde himself.

Serving as a father figure to characters such as John Marston and Arthur Morgan, players are initially lulled into a false sense of security thanks to Dutch’s charisma and charm.

However, throughout the events of Red Dead Redemption 2, it becomes clear that Dutch serves more of a puppet master or cult leader role, being the driving force behind many of the bad events that take place throughout the game.

Previously, one fan took to r/reddeadredemption to ask, “Is Dutch considered the main villain of the Red Dead series?”

“While Ross is undoubtedly the main villain/final boss of the first game, and Micah is undoubtedly the main villain/final boss of the second game, is Dutch considered the main villain of the overall narrative because of his impact and actions leading to everything bad happening and using both Arthur and John?”

As you can imagine, this soon started a discourse with fans claiming labelling Dutch as a “villain” is too simplistic and that is not what the Red Dead franchise is about.

“I feel it goes deeper than that. I feel you're supposed to feel conflicted on how to feel about him. He is charismatic for a reason,” one user shared.

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The Discussion Continues

However, in a more recent Reddit thread, another user shared their thoughts after replaying both Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2.

“We all know Dutch is a delusional hypocrite who is out for himself and we all know about his descent into madness,” they began. “I noticed in the mission Old Friends in RDR2 (the attack on the O'Driscoll camp in the mountains) when Dutch is talking about Colm O'Driscoll, he says, 'Colm doesn't give a damn about his men. All he cares about is numbers. If you can shoot a gun, and ride a horse, and kill without thought, you're in. Think how long some of you have been with me? I imagine Colm doesn't even know half the names of these fools."”

What makes this interesting, as the original poster points out, is that eventually this is the type of person that Dutch becomes, making it ironic that we witness him commenting on Colm’s character.

“I always assumed Dutch and Colm were enemies because they’re too similar,” user electricpenguin6 pointed out.

As another user shared, “Die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain,” and that has never been more clear than with the story of Dutch van der Linde.